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BLACKSBURG, Va. and MADISON, N.J. – Members of the Virginia Tech football and women’s soccer team are now using customized insights from biological data to help team performance to peak levels through a new collaboration between Virginia Tech, competitive member of the elite Atlantic Coast Conference, and Blueprint for Athletes from Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services.

Under the collaboration announced today, participating members of the university’s men’s football and women’s soccer teams will be tested at regular intervals throughout the 2016-2017 competitive seasons using Blueprint for Athletes, a suite of laboratory blood tests that provides amateur and professional athletes customized insights to help improve their performance and help avoid vulnerability to injury. Players, coaches and athletic staff will use the ongoing assessments to better understand players’ biological changes that signify response to training, and will adjust nutrition, thermoregulation, recovery and other aspects of training on a personal basis for each player.

“We take pride in our holistic approach to personal, as well as helping injury prevention,” said Dr. Mark Rogers, DO, team physician, Virginia Tech. “Our relationship with Quest Diagnostics and use of its Blueprint for Athletes service complements this approach because it gives our players the insights they need to enhance their athletic performance and minimize the risk of injury.”

The Blueprint for Athletes testing service resulted from a relationship between Quest Diagnostics and the NFL New York Giants in 2013 to develop new ways to use laboratory diagnostic information to improve the health and performance of athletes. Based on the latest sports science and technology, Blueprint for Athletes evaluates levels of blood-based biomarkers such as vitamin D, creatine kinase, and glucose that influence protein synthesis and energy levels and provides specific actionable insights for the athletes, which will help them to improve performance and potentially decrease injury risk.

“This collaboration with Virginia Tech and its tremendous athletic program will allow us to provide the sports science and contextual insights coaches and Hokies need to help maximize performance,” said Richard C. Schwabacher, MPH, executive director, Quest Diagnostics Sports and Human Performance.

The two organizations hope to expand the football and soccer collaboration by exploring research into the association between biomarkers and biomechanics, as well as exploring gender-specific responses to training and recovery from injury through biomarker testing under the direction of Robin Queen, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering and mechanics, director of the Kevin P. Granata Biomechanics Lab at Virginia Tech and a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board (MSAB) of Blueprint for Athletes. The internationally-renowned MSAB is comprised of researchers and academics in physiology, energy metabolism, sports nutrition, endurance performance, biomechanics, strength and conditioning, thermoregulation, endocrinology, performance coaching, and athletic training who contributed to the development of specific performance testing categories.

“Virginia Tech is leading a change in sports science and human performance, in which the use of bio-data can help us recognize an athlete’s individual ‘blueprint.’ This can influence our medical and training staff to make adjustments that can potentially enhance athlete performance, as well as track changes over time to ensure that those interventions are successful,” said Robin Queen, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering and mechanics, director of the Kevin P. Granata Biomechanics Lab at Virginia Tech and a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board (MSAB) of Blueprint for Athletes.

Blueprint for Athletes Now Available to Amateur Athletes in Seven States

The same Blueprint for Athletes service to be used by Virginia Tech and professional sports teams is now available to amateur athletes in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey and Texas through Quest Diagnostics. Individuals can order the service online and provide a specimen for testing at a Quest Diagnostics Patient Service Center those states. They will receive a detailed report that explains their test results and actions they can take that may potentially improve their athletic performance. Over time, athletes can track results to monitor progress towards improved performance. Quest Diagnostics expects to launch the service in additional states throughout 2016.

For more information or to place an order, go to www.BlueprintforAthletes.com. Become part of the Blueprint for Athletes movement on Facebook and Twitter using #DesignVictory.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve health care management. Quest annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our 44,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. www.QuestDiagnostics.com.

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